Argentina, Ecuador and Israel cruised while Italy and Germany needed penalties in the knockout phase of Ghetton TLV's Mundial 2013 on Thursday.

Argentina-San Marino ended 9-2 with Amit Tal scoring five goals and leading his teammates to another important step, the quarterfinals against Switzerland. The Swiss-Dutch team, managed by the duo Michale Hess and Mike Langer, is the tournament's underdog. Switzerland can consider being a part of the top eight in the 24-team tournament a great achievement after knocking out Italy Under 21.

The Swiss executed a perfect game against the young Italians, with a hat-trick by Roy Cohen, and a brace each by Elaf Tal and Elliot Hollander. For the Italians, Emanuel Terracini's brace was not enough to compete against their opponents.

The second quarterfinal will be Germany-Italy, with both teams qualifying after penalties. While Italy needed just three penalties to get past England, Germany required seven penalties to beat Paraguay.

Italy-England was a really intense game, with Italy first leading with two goals. England then made a great comeback and to lead by two goals in the second half. However, Italy roared to the forefront and almost made it to the final whistle with a 7-6 advantage.In the last seconds of regulation time, a perfect counterattack by the English produced the equalizing goal - 7-7.

At penalties Italy was more precise, earning the right to face Germany in the quarterfinals. The man of match was Luca Moresco, who scored six goals for Italy and who carried the Italian offense.

Germany-Paraguay was another very intense game, ending only after 14 penalties. The German team was missing its captain Daniele Levanto, but the team played brilliantly with a very focused defense and precise attacks. Germany's lineup had Silvian Boiangiu, Cliff Hammer, Jerome Miller, Massimo Caligiana and its star, Christian Seybold. Paraguay had an unlucky evening, missing a lot of opportunities to put the game away before the shoot-outs.

Sweden, like the Swiss, had a surprisingly impressive tournament. However, Ecuador constituted an insurmountable obstacle for them. The Swedes had no chance to compete against the South American favorite, which gave the Europeans a 17-1 drubbing.

Now Ecuador will face Brazil, which topped Morocco in a great show, in quarterfinals. Morocco made a great effort but fell short as the final whistle blew with the score 6-4 in Brazil's favor.

Eran Ben David, captain of Morocco, had put together a very competitive team, with stars like Nissim Derye, Aviv Gali, Johnny Mieres, Koby Abutbul and Ran Shwartz. On the other side Hen Levincron, Brazil's captain who scored two goals, found some great players in Raz Zur and Lior Cohen, with each one scoring a brace.

Israel-Great Britain was an easy task for the finalist of last year, which won 15-2, while loser Great Britain showed it still has some room for improvement. Israel's Elad Levin was the man of the match with five goals. Nir Rosssuta scored a hat-trick, while Shimon Hazon and Adi Renton added a brace each.

Jonathan Shelmerdine and Yuval Ruppin scored for Great Britain.

Israel will face Uruguay, which bested France Under 21 8-4, in the next stage. Nacho Nuchowich had a great performance for the South American team, scoring six goals. Diego Kopleman and Aron Solducho added a goal each. France suffered from missing its top player Alex Assedo. For the French, Liam Cimber, Jonathan Forza and Gabriel Scemama accounted for the team's goals.

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